LC III not starting up

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Dougal222 Author

Level 1

10 points

LC III not starting up

I recently got an LC III which initally worked but now seems to have died on me.

First few days i had it it would start up no problem. Would Chime and then boot up.

After about a week it would take 30 seconds to a minute to chime and start up.

After another week or two it would take 5 - 10 minutes to chime and start up.

Now it won't start up at all. After about 20 - 30 mins the speaker will make the sound just before the chime but that is it. No chime no startup.

I tried re-seating the RAM and the 256K V-RAM upgrade, Tried starting with no added RAM or V-RAM. Tried without keyboard, monitor or SCSI device connected, tried pressing down the ROMS and the CO-Processor, tried starting without the CO-Processor. Tried cleaning near the capacitors, tried removing the P-RAM battery, tried connecting a 4.5V adapter directly to the P-RAM battery.

Nothing seems to work. It just will NOT chime and startup. The PSU starts, the HD starts and that is it. No bootup, no chime, no display.

Should i chuck it in the rubbish or is there anything else i can try?

It currently has the co-processor, 256K V-Ram upgrade, 32MB Ram, 120MB HD with System 7.5 installed.

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 10:45 AM

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Answer 1

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,266 points

Jun 6, 2011 11:05 AM in response to Dougal222

"tried connecting a 4.5V adapter directly to the P-RAM battery."

The LCIII uses a 3.6V lithium battery. I hope the extra volt did not scramble anything.

The gradually increasing start time suggests to me a hard drive trying die. What make/model is the drive? There were some older Macs with 40 and 80MB Quantum Fireball drives that suffered similar issues, but I thought the drives have been fixed by the time the 120MB models released.

The big PRAM battery issue with LCIIIs and their mass-market counterparts, the 47X series, was that you'd get no video if the PRAM battery was dead. However, all the startup chimes and hardware sounds were normal and timely. It was as if the monitor was simply not turned on. Your symptoms don't fit that failure mode.

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Answer 2

Dougal222 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 6, 2011 11:14 AM in response to Allan Jones

But if it was a dying hard drive wouldn't the LC III still chime and give video with the floppy drive and the "?" ?

The drive is a Quantum in fact.

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Answer 3

Jeff

Level 6

12,328 points

Jun 6, 2011 3:26 PM in response to Dougal222

With a failing hard drive, you should get the flashing "?" at startup, indicating that a valid System folder can't be found. My first suggestion would be to replace the internal 3.6-volt, ½AA lithium battery, and see if that eliminates the quirky startup issues. As Allan mentioned, hopefully the additional .9 volt didn't damage the circuit. As far as specs go, my LC III is fitted with a 32 MB SIMM, a 256K VRAM SIMM, and a 160 MB Quantum hard drive. The last time I used it, it functioned without any problems.

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Answer 4

Jun 6, 2011 3:41 PM in response to Dougal222

Dougal222,

We find that with older equipment that seems to be dying you have little to lose by disassembling the entire computer and inspecting parts. Then reassemble, taking care to insert cards and RAM two or three times. The friction acts to clean contacts and improve connections.

The delay in start up time is related to the concept of polling devices. When the computer has lost its PRAM settings because of a dead battery, it goes through the entire process. You have witnessed this process going slower and slower.

Cleaning connections, zapping the PRAM, installing a fresh battery, booting from an external zip or scsi drive will all give you different and hopefully improved results. At a minimum, you will have ruled out several other possibilities.

Ji~m

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Answer 5

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,266 points

Jun 7, 2011 9:23 PM in response to Jeff

I worked on a circa 1998 G3 PowerBook with a failing hard drive, presumably the bearings or the motor itself. It did not throw out the flashing question mark until the drive no longer could spin up. Until then, boot times grew longer and longer. The increase in access time persisted when I removed the drive and used a NewerTech ATA-to-USB adaptor to attach it to my G4 tower.

So I think you can have a failing hard drive not necessarily launch the "can't find system" icon.

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